Wednesday, May 3, 2017

McCain gets Two Pinocchios for claiming he has 'nothing to do with' McCain Institute at Arizona State University which he founded in 2012 with $8.7 million in "unused funds" from his 2008 so-called presidential campaign. Allies of his group's 2012 formation included sitting CIA Director Petraeus and actor Ben Affleck. Saudis donated $1 million to McCain group in 2014-Washington Post, April 8, 2016

Foreign
campaign contributions to U.S. elections are banned under federal law.
But there’s no restriction on donations to nonprofits with ties to
candidates or sitting politicians. Companies and foundations, some that
have business before Congress, have contributed at least $100,000 each
to the foundation, USA Today reported
in 2014. Ethics watchdog groups criticize the practice and the laws
that allow it, saying such donations provide a means for foreign
governments and special-interest groups to exert influence over
politicians.

The five-term Republican is running for reelection this November (2016).

In
April 2012, McCain met withseveral of his longtime political allies in
Sedona, Ariz., to discuss his vision for a nonprofit aimed to preserve
his political legacy. Those in attendance included then-Sen. Jon Kyl
(R-Ariz.), Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.),then-CIA Director David
Petraeus, former U.S. ambassador to NATOKurt Volker and actor Ben
Affleck,

It was
established to promote “character-driven leadership” and focus on
issues that shaped McCain’s career, such as foreign policy and national
security.Its mission statement says
it is “guided by values that have animated” McCain’s career and his
family. The Washington-based McCain Institute runs an internship program
and holds events focused on issues like human trafficking and national
security.

“For McCain, he thought it was very important to have
something that becomes institutional, that will focus on issues and
things that he’s cared about in his career that goes well beyond his own
contribution,” Volker, McCain Institute director [and former US ambassador to NATO], told the Arizona
Republic in 2014.

McCain regularly attends events and fundraisers hosted by the McCain Institute. His wife, Cindy McCain, is on the institute’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council,
working with the nonprofit to raise awareness for her main policy
issue. Many of McCain’s longtime political allies sit on the nonprofit’s
board of directors."...

McCain compared his role with the institute to that of his Senate predecessor, Republican Barry Goldwater, with the Goldwater Institute in Arizona. The think tank was founded in 1988 by a group of conservative activists, with the blessing of Goldwater to use his name.

There’s no indication Goldwater himself started the think tank. His widow told the Phoenix New Times in 1999
that Goldwater “had lent his name to the institute in 1988 because he
believed its founder, former Northern Arizona University political
science professor Michael Sanera, intended it to be an academically
oriented policy research organ.” But Goldwater was critical of some of
the policy positions the institute took, and tried to convince its board
to change direction.

It’s clear McCain’s role with the McCain
Institute is not exactly comparable to Goldwater’s. Still, McCain’s role
appears to be largely honorary, and his name does not appear in the
foundation’s tax records. The institute’s employees report to the ASU
president, and McCain has no involvement in its management or operations
decisions, Volker told us.

“The
Senator’s involvement is truly a supportive role to ASU, its goals and
thus the Institute,” Volker said. “We are incredibly grateful that he
attends some of our events and meets with the Institute’s ASU students
when his schedule allows. Operational decisions made by the Institute
are taken by its Executive Director, with counsel from the Institute’s
advisory Board of Trustees, under the overall authority of the
University.”

Rachael Dean, McCain’s spokeswoman, explained McCain meant to express that he has no ties to the Saudi donation.

“Senator
McCain intended to convey that he had nothing to do with the
solicitation of the Saudi donation to the McCain Institute,” Dean said,
and confirmed he has no position with the institute or role in its
governance. “He is supportive of the University’s goals and programs for
the Institute, and he is proud to participate in Institute activities
as his schedule allows.”

The Pinocchio Test

McCain’s
answer during the media scrum was curious, since he helped set up the
McCain Institute and clearly still has ties to it. He has a symbolic
role with the nonprofit, attends fundraisers and he and his wife are
supportive of its efforts. So his role clearly goes beyond how he
characterized it – being the namesake of a think tank, like Barry
Goldwater was for the Goldwater Institute.

It appears McCain
misspoke. According to his spokeswoman, McCain meant to express that he
“had nothing to do” with the donation from the Saudi government to the
McCain Institute Foundation, rather than with the institute itself. We
don’t play gotcha at The Fact Checker, and we understand that people
make mistakes when they speak off the cuff. But McCain should be held
accountable for his inaccurate claim, because it ultimately misled the
public to believe he had no ties to the institute that he helped create.We award him Two Pinocchios."